Ceremony bookings - terms and conditions

Licensed venues

All ceremonies must take place in a building or structure to which a licence has been granted for the solemnisation of marriages and civil partnerships. They must be separate from any other activity on the premises at the time of the ceremony.

Civil marriage and civil partnership ceremony bookings

Your ceremony booking is accepted on the condition that:

No legal impediment to the marriage or civil partnership exists and legal preliminaries are completed within statutory time limits.

Any foreign divorce/dissolution papers are accepted by the Registrar General where applicable.

Ceremony fees

The ceremony fees are payable in full at the time of booking. The ceremony fee includes a non-refundable administration fee of £100.

Fees are subject to change on the 1 April each year. You will be required to pay the fee that is applicable for the date of your ceremony.

Cooling off period

You are entitled to a 14 day cooling off period whereby you must consider the terms and your position. During this period, you are entitled to cancel the booking without loss of prepayments (including the booking fee); however changes to the date, time or venue of a ceremony cannot be made until after the end of this period. You are automatically entitled to the cooling off period if the booking was made online, over the phone or by mail.

Amendment fee

An amendment fee of £40 is payable whenever details of a booking are changed and includes changing the time, date or venue of a ceremony. Where applicable, this may require an updated or additional ceremony fee to be paid. The amendment fee is non-refundable and not included within the cancellation policy. This fee becomes applicable after the 14 day cooling off period.

Cancellation of bookings by the Surrey Registration Service

Your ceremony may be cancelled by the Surrey Registration Service if:

The total fees have not been paid

Legal preliminaries have not or cannot be completed.

Cancellation of bookings by the customer

To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform Surrey ceremonies office of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear statement (e.g. email or a letter sent by post ). Alternatively, we can send you our cancellation form.

To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired.

If you cancel this contract within 14 days of booking, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you.

If you cancel after 14 days of booking we will reimburse payments received from you as follows:

More than twelve weeks before the ceremony date you will receive a full refund of the balance fee (excluding non-refundable administration fees).

Between four and twelve weeks before the ceremony date you will receive 50% refund of the balance fee (excluding non-refundable administration fees).

Less than four weeks before the ceremony date (or failure to cancel), there will be no refund.

We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later that 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel this contract.

We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of the reimbursement. If you requested to begin the performance of services during the cancellation period, you shall pay us an amount which is in proportion to what has been performed until you have communicated to us your cancellation from this contract, in comparison with the full coverage of the contract.

Ceremony content

The Surrey Registration Service will provide the scripts for the ceremony. These ceremonies cannot be altered or interchanged and we will not use scripts provided by anyone else. However, you may wish to include some additional vows/promises and every effort will be made to include those choices, provided the content remains seemly and dignified.

The Surrey Registration Service will make the final decision on any wording used, and will not accept liability for any omission, which may be caused by reasons beyond its control.

All ceremonies must be of a dignified nature, to reflect the solemnity of the occasion.

Religious blessings will not be included in the ceremony and any further ceremony or blessing must be separate, after the registrars have left the building.

The registrars shall not be responsible for obtaining copyright licence for music, reading or other matters permitted at the ceremony.

Code of conduct

Smoking is not permitted at any point during the ceremony.

The consumption of food or alcohol is not permitted in the ceremony room or gazebo area, for one hour prior to or during the ceremony.

Anyone obviously under the influence of alcohol or drugs or who is abusive shall be asked to leave the ceremony.

Staff

The Surrey Registration Service will allocate staff to attend your ceremony and reserves the right to substitute other experienced and qualified staff in case of sickness or other unforeseen circumstances on the day.

Room capacity

For fire safety and comfort, the number of guests must not exceed the capacity of the room, which is stipulated in the licence of the venue. Additional guests will be excluded from the ceremony.

Timing

You and your guests must arrive at the venue promptly to enable the ceremony to commence on time. Failure to do so may mean it may not be possible to complete the ceremony as planned and it may result in the registrar leaving due to the need to attend other ceremonies and reductions to content may be necessary, for example, omissions of readings.

Each ceremony should not exceed 30 minutes duration as this will affect the time-tabling of other ceremonies.

Animals

Animals, including birds, reptiles, fish and insects, and including your own pets, are not allowed to be present or participate in any part of the ceremony (including Gazebo ceremonies). The only exception to this rule are trained assistance dogs, who, of course, may attend with their owners.

Non permitted

Please be aware that candles and/or naked flames are not permitted at any of the register office venues.

Liability

The Surrey Registration Service will not accept liability for:

The failure of any music system provided by the venue, you or a third party

The failure of any CD provided by the venue, you or a third party

Any delay or loss caused by your late or non-arrival

Any loss caused by a request from you or your representatives to delay the ceremony

Any loss or compensation where a ceremony is stopped from proceeding because (a) it would be void if it went ahead, (b) an offence under the Marriage or Civil Partnership Acts would be committed, and (c) it would be against the public interest

Any decision to delay the ceremony is at the discretion of the Surrey Registration Service.

General

In the event of a 'Force Majeure', the Surrey Registration Service will endeavour to perform your ceremony on your chosen day. We strongly recommend that you take out ceremony insurance to cover losses or expenses incurred in the case of events outside our control. 'Force Majeure' means war, civil war, armed conflict, terrorist attack, governmental action, fire, flood, severe weather conditions, pandemic or epidemic or any other act or matter which notwithstanding the reasonable diligence and foresight of Surrey County Council and its partner providers, is beyond their reasonable control.

Any reference to working days does not include Saturday, Sunday, Bank or Public holidays.

Approval of the venue is granted only in connection with the provision of ceremonies. The Surrey Registration Service cannot accept liability for the failure or neglect on behalf of the venue, of any agreement between you and the venue and for the use or provision of any services and/or facilities.

Any complaint or claim must be made in writing to the Surrey Registration Service within 21 working days of the ceremony.

Marriage and Civil Partnership Acts

Marriage and Civil Partnership Acts - means the Acts of Parliament (and any regulations made under those Acts) covering the legal preliminaries to, the solemnization and registration of a civil marriage/civil partnership either in a register office or approved premises within England and Wales.

Venue - means Approved Premises approved by the Surrey Registration Service under the Civil Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Approved Premises) Regulations 2005 for the solemnization and registration of civil marriages and civil partnerships.